We've been doing some other stuff too

I have to admit that even though we've been home for the summer and not really been traveling, we've been pretty busy and the time is really flying by.  Inside and outside projects are keeping our days quite full and we did manage to take the King out on a brief weekend trip a few weeks ago.   I was afraid we would have to pass this weekend up as the King was still transmission free 24 hours before we were supposed to leave, but the Husband and his friend came through, got the new transmission installed and the King through its New York State inspection in the nick of time.  The bucket of parts did keep me pretty nervous throughout the day:

Almost ready to test it out!

We spent the weekend at Jellystone Campground with the boys Cub Scout pack.  It was a great weekend, with lots of friends, campfires, good food and fun.  Our campsite was on "Sing-A-Long Avenue."  How could we not have a great time!

The boys had a great time with their friends!

 

The kitchen has kept us pretty busy too!  Everything on the first floor had to be packed up and I had to find a place to store it all.  I also had lots of help

 

We have boxes stored in every spare corner of the basement, under our bed and at my parents house.  We also discovered that the husband has a problem finishing what he starts, namely bottles of scotch.  For a time we were having groups of friends in for dinner and ending the evening with tastings of scotch from different regions of Scotland and Ireland.  We found several bottles, each with a small taste left in them, in the back of a cupboard in the dining room.

He also has a problem finishing beer...I bought them in December and found them in the refrigerator in the garage during a 90 degree July heat wave..

 

Merry Christmas!  If you need me I'll be "finishing" some things!

Demolition

Demolition of the kitchen is complete and we're ready for the contractor to get started on the re-wiring and plumbing that needs to be done before the wall structure can come down.  We are hoping that will happen sometime this week as our cabinets are done and ready to be installed and the appliances will be here in a week!  Here are some pictures of the destruction

We didn't find any real structural surprises.  Lots of wires to move, but nothing that we weren't really expecting.  We did however find some very interesting things as we removed the old cupboards, floor and drywall, including this coupon for Diet-Rite Cola

And this matchbox car

And some headlights for a model car

But the most surprising discovery came when we pulled down the ceiling.  We've never really been sure exactly when our house was built.  All the information on the survey recorded with the town indicate that it was built in 1959, but the deed lists it as being built in 1960.  Most of the other houses on our block were built between 1961 and 1964.  Then the husband found this wedged up in the ceiling when he took out the drywall

It's dated February, 1959.  I did a little research and according to Wikipedia, Rouge Magazine competed directly with Playboy and was published in Chicago from 1955 to 1967.  It contained both fiction and science fiction articles and over the course of its publication featured stories by Hunter S. Thompson, William Saroyan and Philip Wylie.   This issue does have some pictures of some fairly well known women, including Marilyn Monroe.  The advertisements in the back are awesome!  Here are some of our favorites



The Amazing Portable Radio

Possibly, my favorite add ever!  With a money back guarantee!



Some things haven't changed much in the last 54 years!

 

I'll admit when the husband first found it I headed straight for eBay to see if our find would perhaps help finance this new adventure.  Alas, most issues that I found, in good condition, were fetching a paltry $25 to $30 bucks.  Not exactly the gold mine we were hoping for.  So now we are trying to decide what to do with it.  We're considering purchasing a current copy of a magazine and placing both back in the ceiling for someone else to find 60 tears from now when they renovate.  If you have any suggestions, pass them along!  For now it's hidden under some tile samples, away from the 3 amigos.

Finally, here's a shot of the husband checking the attic where the chimney used to be during last weeks rain storm.  WooHoo!  No Leaks!!